A hydrating essence you do not need to pat in – Neogence Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Essence

I’d never come across this brand called Neogence before, have you? Then again, I don’t spend a lot of time in Sasa stores where this is found. I operate Sasa stores like a hit and run accident – hit the store, run in to get what I want and run out. I don’t stop and browse because the SAs there just scare me silly. Pushy doesn’t quite begin to describe it.

However, I was passed the Neogence Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Essence to trial by Cittabella magazine for their feature, which is how I came to know about this product.

A bit of research tells me that Neogence is a brand from Taiwan and this Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Essence is one of their star products. I must say that I really liked this product in the 2 weeks I was trialing it.

The Neogence Hyaluronic Acid Hydrating Essence is a hydrating serum. It is meant to help the skin retain and hold the moisture to keep skin hydrated all day. I like that it is a watery clear liquid that is dispensed via a glass dropper. The bottle itself is very small. 20ml is all it contains so really, its quite a pricey product.

Another reason I say this is pricey is this – that’s all I had left after using this product twice a day for about 3 weeks. At time of writing, I have nothing left and the bottle has been tossed. The thing is, there is no instruction on the label and mine did not come in a box, so I wasn’t sure how to use it. In the end, I used about 2-3 drops smoothed out in the palms of my hands and then applied to my face.

My skin soaks this up like a sponge. Within 2 seconds, it is dry and feels smooth and plumped up. No patting required for it to absorb, not sticky feel, nothing uncomfortable. It is super quick and easy to use and it did help my skin feel more moisturized, when used in combination with other hydrating products. That was my conclusion after 2 weeks for the magazine review.

However, a month later, I’m not 100% convinced to repurchase for a few reasons. Firstly, at RM89 for a 20ml bottle that barely lasts me a month, I found it too pricey. Sure, I use pricey products but this did not stir up feelings of loyalty in my breast. The Hada Labo SHA lotion needs more work but does the job for me at half the price for 8 times the product. The math made sense.

Secondly, I did not think this product delivered wonders for my skin after the initial 2-3 weeks. My skin started feeling drier after I’d applied it in the 3rd week onwards, as opposed to feeling more hydrated. It was very strange. I use a hydrating serum in the day – presently its the Estee Lauder Hydrationist or Vichy Aqualia serum interchangeably – and those keep my skin hydrated all day under a gel-cream moisturizer. This one did not make my skin feel as comfortable in the long run although it worked a treat initially. I don’t know if its just me who feels this way though.

Its short and sweet and if it works for you, I’d love to hear from you! If it doesn’t (and you shouldn’t be trying this if you are sensitive to hyaluronic acid!) I’d like to know how you found it too 🙂

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About Paris B

Paris B is a 40-something beauty and skincare enthusiast with a practical and very critical view of beauty products and the world of beauty. Her mission on My Women Stuff is to deliver clear, honest reviews and facilitate discussions about beauty trends and life, tempered with a healthy dose of humour. Let the buyer's remorse be ours not yours! When not testing the newest skincare creams and lotions, or playing with makeup, find her testing her culinary skills in the kitchen at Chez PB. Read more about us here or leave a comment below or connect with us on social media at Instagram, Facebook and Twitter!

I bought this at a whim while shopping at Sasa HK last year. The promoter told me it was a hot-selling product in HK. I’ve only started using it at night for a couple of months and for the last one month, I’ve been using it for day too. I’m almost done with the serum but like you, I have not found an adequate enough reason to re-purchase (but that’s probably cos I’m itching to try other hydrating serums hehe). Agreed with your views that my skin did feel hydrated somewhat (well at least better than not using any hydrating serum I suppose!) and not sticky which is good.

How interesting that you agree with me on this too! There’s just nothing so compelling about this that would make me repurchase with is always a pity because I do like it when a product works for me… the first time at least 😛

I am a frequent user of hyaluronic acid ( not the Neogence brand though ) and supposedly, any hyaluronic acid with high amounts should leave your skin a tad sticky and your skin hydration level should improve with prolong use. Probably with this particular brand, the percentage of HA is less. Comparing with Hada Labo SHA, Hada Labo is much wallet friendly!

Great to know that it works well for you 🙂 Perhaps as you have said, having oily skin may result in this one feeling nicer on the skin or perhaps it could just be part of your whole routine that helps it work better? Hard to say really 🙂

I try but some SAs tend to be very pushy and try to show you this and that – stuff I’m not interested in so I usually leave. If they leave me alone, I stay a bit longer… and sometimes even buy something.

Sasa sales staff are definitely overly pushy.It’s been a deterrent for me to enter the shop for fear of being ‘stalked’. I much prefer going to their website to browse at my own pace.

Too bad the product didn’t hold up for you in the few weeks after. I’ve also experienced products that in the short term work brilliantly and after a while it loses its efficacy. The serum bottle looks tiny as well for that price.

Not sticky sounds good but RM89/20ml goodness… and the name SASA… Giving me phobia’s. I don’t think I’ll be going there anymore coz the SA’s there first are very very pushy and the customer service is really bad. They don’t even understand their product. I actually bought a set of Rene Furterer shampoos to try and insist that it’s enough for a week but the SA said my hair is so long it won’t be sufficient. Then I told I only wash the scalp and straight away she gives me this awkward look and went on to comment that if I don’t wash my whole head including my long hair up to the waist it’s not clean enough. I felt a little insulted.

That would just be the last time and final time that I will go to SASA and it was only my 3rd visit. The thought that I need to go there gives me the creeps… 🙁

Goodness! What an awful experience you had! The one Sasa I had a pretty decent experience at was at Hartamas Shopping Centre – strange eh? Also at Pavilion but that might have been a one off experience.

I’m not sure how much that is in US dollars, but there are some pretty inexpensive brands that have hyaluronic acid serums – which contain hylaluronic acid as the first ingredient, which means there’s a lot of the ingredient in the product. I have a few products on my Amazon wishlist and will buy one soon – it’s less than $20 US. If you search for hyaluronic acid on Amazon.com you should find them – I assume they sell them internationally? And the no-name products get about the same reviews as pricey name brand ones on Makeupalley

Thanks for the tip Jeni. This one works out to a little under US$30 at today’s exchange but I’m quite happy with the Hada Labo lotion to be honest. It is inexpensive and works well and is easily available here 🙂

I’m a gal who is really big on eye contact but every time I go into Sasa, I’m like, don’t look at anyone! if you do, you’ll get stampeded! ;). So I am just like looking down at my shoes and try to glance up inconspicuously every now and then to find my intended target. It totally feels like a mission to tell you the truth, especially when I have already went through the whole store and couldn’t find what I actually wanted. Then comes the part I hate even more which is to ask the SA’s help. Every time I come out of Sasa I always need to have a pick-me-up chocolate just to get my spirit up again. 😛

I have always wanted to try Hyaluronic Acid Essences/Lotions but after a brief stint with the Hada Labo SHA which totally broke me out oh so badly, I am too scared to sojourn down the HA road again even though I am not completely sure what ingredients actually broke me out since the My Beauty Diary masks which also contain HA works pretty well on me. Might be the Super part in the Hada Labo SHA which broke me out, but it looks like I’ll never know. 🙁

Haha… your experience at Sasa sounds like mine. I’m happy if they don’t notice me and are slow getting off where they are (usually at the back of the store) so I can run in and out to check what I want before they get their claws into me! 😀 I think you might be one of those who are sensitive to hyaluronic acid. I didn’t know it was possible until some of the girls left comments on how they were breaking out from the Hada Labo lotion. But you could be right that the Super Hyaluronic Acid might just be too super for your skin.

this works just right for me. not too moisturising, not drying either. make up stays longer. i gave my hada labo away after it got me some comedonal acne. similar product is kose moisture skin repair, also serum type, RM 200+ for 100ml, much cheaper than this (ml to ml), but the effect is not as good as this.